Annals of Albany : 1850 - 1859.

            The Annals of Albany was begun as an annual publication in 1849 with the aim of preserving a record of the City's historic past.  In the preface to Volume 1, Joel Munsell states that the intent was to publish historical, genealogical and statistical records; memories of eminent citizens; historical accounts of religious, charitable, literary and benevolent institutions; records of public and private corporations; maps and charts from different time periods; and any other sources which pertained to the history of the area.  The Annals of Albany was published for ten years, one volume per year.            

            The volumes contain a combination of transcriptions from original records and historical articles. A preface, introduction, table of contents, and list of illustrations, are located at the beginning of each volume. The reproduced records and the articles are so numerous and varied in topic, it would be impossible to provide a comprehensive list in this content description.  However, a general overview of the material may be of assistance to researchers.
Included are: Albany City Records, 1675-1753; Notes from Newspapers, 1771-1847; The Colony of Rensselaerswych, 1630-1666; a section each year entitled, Annals for the Year; descriptions of Albany during different time periods; church records and registers of several denominations;  court records; descriptions of homes, streets, churches, banks, events, public buildings, epidemics, fires, rivers, monuments, funeral customs, and many other topics; statistics of population and crime; histories of churches; personal journals; inscriptions from burial grounds; records of societies, institutions, corporations and associations; colonial and state acts relating to Albany; city by-laws; articles on early settlers, Sunday schools, Indians, and other subjects; biographical sketches of individuals; meteorological observations; steam navigation on the Hudson River; maps and plans; New York Colonial manuscripts; reminiscences of citizens; family records; early Dutch records; Dutch names of persons, places and things; a table of Dutch baptismal names with the corresponding names in English; and many other topics.
Reel 1, Volumes 1-6;
 Reel 2, Volumes 7-10.